If you’re looking for a moist, fluffy coffee cake that is bursting with coffee flavour, then this recipe is it! Soft coffee cake layers are sandwiched between the most divine white chocolate and coffee whipped ganache frosting, and lightly candied walnuts – YUM!
How to make coffee cake
This recipe has three different elements, but they’re all easy to put together!
The whipped ganache frosting is the star of this cake so I would highly recommend making it. It’ll be best to start on the ganache first before making the cake as it needs time to cool in the fridge before whipping (instructions for making the ganache are after the coffee cake).
Coffee cake
For the coffee cake, begin by preheating your oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 on recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release). Set aside for now.
In a bowl, sift together flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and instant coffee powder. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and soft brown sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2 on recipe card below), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. The batter may look curdled but that’s okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3 on recipe card below). Your batter should be nice and smooth and no longer curdled.
Divide the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, let the cakes cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting.
White chocolate and coffee whipped ganache frosting
Chop up your chocolate into small pieces (no need to do this if using chocolate callets) and place in a heat proof bowl.
Place the cream in a saucepan over a low-medium heat and heat it up until it begins to gently bubble. Once it’s gently bubbling, immediately take it off the heat (you don’t want to overheat the cream) and pour it over the chocolate. Add in the coffee at this point too but no need to mix it.
Allow the chocolate/cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes untouched. After 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and then using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Keep the immersion blender at the bottom of the bowl to prevent air bubbles getting into the ganache.
Pour the ganache into a wide baking tray/dish (this will allow it to cool quicker), and cover it with cling wrap so that it’s touching the top of the ganache. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Place it in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow it to thicken up slightly and become very cold. You can also do this step the day beforehand.
Once ready, pour the ganache into a bowl and whip until you reach semi-stiff peaks. It comes together quite quickly so be careful not to overwhip the cream.
Lightly candied walnuts
Place a saucepan over a medium heat and add in sugar, butter and cinnamon, stirring occasionally.
Once the sugar is melted and begins to gently bubble, add in the walnuts and stir so that the walnuts are evenly coated with the butter/sugar mixture. Once coated immediately take it off the heat and pour it onto a tray. Use a spatula or spoon to separate the walnuts.
Allow the walnuts to cool and harden (about 5 minutes or so).
How to decorate this coffee cake
OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off the top of the cake layers so that they’re nice and flat. These cake layers bake up quite flat so you should only need to trim off a very small amount.
Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the whipped ganache frosting on top. Evenly distribute half of the candied walnuts on top of the cream.
Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more whipped ganache. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top (I used a 1A piping tip for this cake). Finish off by evenly distributing the remaining walnuts on top. Enjoy!
IMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Coffee Cake
- 2½ cups (320 g) flour - regular all purpose (see note 1 if you want to use cake flour)
- ⅓ cup (40 g) cornflour - also known as cornstarch
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt - omit if using salted butter
- 4 tbsp (15 g) instant coffee powder - I use a fine powdered coffee
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavoured vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1½ cups (300 g) soft brown sugar - firmly packed (see note 6)
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1¼ tbsp vanilla essence/extract
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1½ cups (337 g) buttermilk - room temperature, see note 5 if using a homemade buttermilk substitute
Whipped White Chocolate & Coffee Ganache Frosting
- 1 cup (180 g) white chocolate - couverture preferred, otherwise regular eating chocolate. Try not to use compound white chocolate. Milk chocolate can be used too.
- 3 cups (675 g) cream - minimum fat percentage of 34%
- 1½ tbsp instant coffee powder - I use a fine powdered coffee
Lightly Candied Walnuts
- 2 tbsp (30 g) soft brown sugar
- 1 tbsp (14 g) unsalted butter
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (100 g) walnuts - roughly chopped or halved
Instructions
- IMPORTANT: For this recipe I would highly recommend using gram measurements, especially for the flour for accurate results. It has a high fat/liquid ratio so slight adjustments to the quantities can throw off the balance of the cake 🙂
- The whipped ganache frosting is the star of this cake so I would highly recommend making it! It'll be best to start on the ganache first before making the cake as it needs time to cool in the fridge before whipping (instructions for making the ganache are after the coffee cake).
Coffee Cake
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 4 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release). Set aside.
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and instant coffee powder. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and soft brown sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Add in your vanilla, vinegar and half a cup of the buttermilk, and mix until well combined. The batter may look curdled but that's okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in half of your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until just combined. Then add in the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk, and fold it in until just combined. Lastly, add in the remaining dry ingredients and gently fold it into the mixture until just combined. Do not overmix (see note 3). Your batter should be nice and smooth and no longer curdled (see note 7 if your batter is still curdled).
- Divide the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done, let the cakes cool in the cake tins for 20 minutes and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before frosting.
Whipped White Chocolate & Coffee Ganache
- Chop up your chocolate into small pieces (no need to do this if using chocolate callets) and place in a heat proof bowl.
- Place the cream in a saucepan over a low-medium heat and heat it up until it begins to gently bubble. Once it's gently bubbling, immediately take it off the heat (you don't want to overheat the cream) and pour it over the chocolate. Add in the coffee at this point too but no need to mix it.
- Allow the chocolate/cream mixture to sit for 5 minutes untouched. After 5 minutes, stir with a spatula and then using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Keep the immersion blender at the bottom of the bowl to prevent air bubbles getting into the ganache.
- Pour the ganache into a wide baking tray/dish (this will allow it to cool quicker), and cover it with cling wrap so that it's touching the top of the ganache. This will prevent a skin from forming as it cools. Place it in the fridge for at least a few hours to allow it to thicken up slightly and become very cold. Ideally you want to leave it for over 6+ hours (overnight is best). You can also do this step the day beforehand.
- Once ready, pour the ganache into a bowl and whip until you reach semi-stiff peaks. It comes together quite quickly so be careful not to overwhip the cream.
Lightly Candied Walnuts
- Place a saucepan over a medium heat and add in sugar, butter and cinnamon, stirring occasionally.
- Once the sugar is melted and begins to gently bubble, add in the walnuts and stir so that the walnuts are evenly coated with the butter/sugar mixture. Once coated immediately take it off the heat and pour it onto a tray. Use a spatula or spoon to separate the walnuts.
- Allow the walnuts to cool and harden (about 5 minutes or so).
Assembly
- OPTIONAL: Begin by trimming off the top of the cake layers so that they're nice and flat. These cake layers bake up quite flat so you should only need to trim off a very small amount.
- Place your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and spread out a generous amount of the whipped ganache frosting on top. Evenly distribute half of the candied walnuts on top of the cream.
- Place the next cake layer on top and cover the top and sides with more whipped ganache. I like to do a little bit of piping on the top (I used a 1A piping tip for this cake). Finish off by evenly distributing the remaining walnuts on top. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
195 Comments
Hi, I was just wondering if I can bake this in a tray 9″x13″? Or cupcakes? Do I need to reduce or increase the batter? Thank you.
Hi Laufa! I think this would work fine in a 9x13inch tray 🙂 just make sure there isn’t too much batter in the cake tin, and if there is a little extra you can make cupcakes out of it 🙂
This looks delicious!! Is instant coffee powder the same thing as espresso powder? If not, could I use espresso powder, and if so, what would the substitution amount be?
Thank you:)
Thanks Kristi! So I believe espresso powder is more intense in flavour, so you probably need to use less of it. I haven’t tried it myself though so can’t say for sure sorry! Would love to hear how you go if you decide to try it out 🙂
Absolutely stunning! The cake is incredibly soft and such a gorgeous texture.
Ganache absolutely drool worthy. Delicious!
Candied walnuts give a yum flavour, texture and bite to cut through.
10/10 amazing. Will be making again.
So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Jess! 😀 I second the Ganache being drool worthy haha it is one of my fav whipped frostings to date!
The cake is looking lovely and moist and was easy to make however the ganache did not whip at all, I used little more white chocolate so the ratio was about 200-600ml. It tasted delicious but was not whipping and ended up more like a delicious tasting sauce. When I tried to whip it it was taking so long it started curdling
Hi Teresa! 🙂 So happy to hear the cake turned out as expected, but so sorry to hear the ganache didn’t! That can be frustrating. If you used more white chocolate that shouldn’t be a problem, it just means your ganache will set up a little thicker and be slightly sweeter. Did you chill the ganache in the fridge for at least a few hours? I would also recommend using an immersion blender to bring the ganache together if you didn’t already as this will prevent curdling when you come to whipping it. Check out this video for more ganache tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjS7HZng8N0&t=423s
i tried this cake and is amazing. The coffee flavor is perfect, not to strong and the ganache is not to sweet. Perfect balans.
Awesome! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Xiomara 😀
Does anyone know if you can freeze this cake? Need to make in advance, thanks x
Hi Nicky! I haven’t frozen this cake myself so I’m not too sure how it’ll hold up sorry! I imagine it should be okay if wrapped well, and I would recommend adding simple syrup once they’re thawed 🙂
I froze mine as made a weekend in advance and absolutely was perfect come the next weekend and day of serving. I think as it has oil in it it is a great cake for fridge/freezer as it stays soft when chilled. Another beautiful MK recipe 💖
Thanks for the feedback Jess! Great to know it was still nice and moist after being frozen 😀
I made the cake without the walnuts and froze it without any issues!
Awesome! So happy to hear that Glen 🙂
Another hit!!! Baked it to take to a friend’s BBQ on the weekend and didn’t disappoint! Will be baking it again this weekend coming up for a different crowd. Just one question, I have never made ganache and mine turned out not as stiff as the usual frostings, is it normal?
Awesome! So happy to hear you enjoyed the coffee cake Xana 😀 and yes the whipped ganache is more like a whipped cream consistency 🙂 you can make it stiffer by adding in more chocolate but then white chocolate is quite sweet so you run the risk of making the frosting a little too sweet. Hope that helps 🙂
Thank you for your reply, will try the extra chocolate at least once to test out the consistency 🤗 happy baking
Just finished making this coffee cake and it smells divine can’t wait to bite into it looking forward to more recipes thank you so much
So happy to hear that Donna! Hope you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Tried this recipe,it came out perfect 😍thanks MK,I always watch your videos
From South Africa,
So so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Fikiswa! 😀
Hi I want to try ur recipes but u mention 1.5 egg how to measure the eggs accurately
Hi Ishwarya! For half an egg, simply crack an egg into a bowl, whisk it with a fork so the yolk and white combine, and then use half of that to make up half an egg 🙂 hope that helps!